Onto That Dangerous World

Chapter 27

WARNING: This story contains mature themes and is intended for mature readers.

ISABELLA STANLEY.

"Do you see that, little lamb," Anthony said, pointing to the large gathering of people standing around a white coffin.

"Whose funeral is this?" I asked, almost afraid of his answer.

"Yours," he replied, keeping his eyes on me.

"WHAT!" I yelled. My funeral? But I wasn't dead.

"Don't yell at me," he said, gripping onto my thigh to the point of pain. But pain was something I had become accustomed to, and Anthony's grip was almost invisible.

"I'm not dead, Anthony."

"No, you're not, but they think you are." He shrugged.

I tried to calm myself, to steady my breathing. I didn't want nor could I have a panic attack, not now, not here.

"Who's in the coffin?" I asked.

My face was almost pressed up against the window of the car, trying to make sense, trying to see if he was bluffing, to see if there was anyone there I recognized.

My ballet teacher was standing there with flowers in his hands. I spotted Charlotte. There were a few people I recognized, people that my parents worked with, my mom's colleagues, the NYPD. And then I saw them. As the crowd of people moved around, they came into sight. My mom and dad.

Dad on his knees with his hand on the coffin, and mom was being comforted by someone.

"What the hell have you done?" I yelled, trying the door handle and the window, but nothing would open.

"Do you see that, little lamb. No one is going to come look for you anymore," he said, with raw bitterness. "Drive." He ordered.

I slumped back in the seat staring aimlessly ahead.

No one will ever come and look for me. I was dead, dead to the world and dead inside. I had nothing left to live for, no hope of freedom, nothing, it was all gone. I closed my eyes and slipped away slowly into a darkness that I never wanted to leave.

I welcomed the darkness, welcomed it like a cold embrace. The dark place, it was inviting, it welcomed me in. It offered me what I wanted, hope, love, freedom. In this darkness I was free. In this darkness, I didn't feel a thing.

"It was not me who planned this, little lamb. It was your fiancè. He said it was all for the best. Don't you agree, little lamb?" Anthony said. His voice was proud and triumphant and almost cocky at what he had just told me.

Edwin had set this up. Edwin had been the mastermind behind the plan. He had set up my so called death.

I knew Edwin was not the good brother, far from it. I think between the two, I hated Edwin the most because he was the one that made me feel things I knew were wrong, he was the perfect demon.